


On and On and On

by WindStainedDreams



Series: What We Rarely See [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Bed time stories, Endings, F/F, Fire Emblem Femslash Week 2016, but nothing explicit happens, fefemslashweek2016, prompt:endings, story time, tagging underage because Nowi is a weird case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7918972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindStainedDreams/pseuds/WindStainedDreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nowi always insisted on more stories from Olivia, even if she was never awake to hear how they ended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On and On and On

Olivia looked down at the small form curled up next to her on the ground. Nowi was snoring quietly; adding her breathing to that of the children huddled around Olivia and the manakete. The children were all sleeping, worn from another day with their halidom at war. Olivia was glad that she could provide for them some little bit of happiness. They’d come from the nearby village, curious to see their Prince and his army on their way to the next bloody field to fight off the monsters creeping at their doors. Nowi had found them and started a game of hide and seek all throughout the camp. When she saw this, and realized the dangers to children that Nowi could so easily ignore, Olivia had quickly taken them to a clearing that the Shepherds used for training and started telling stories. Entertaining children was always easier, since they had so few expectations. And Olivia loved being able to share her stories with young ears who could pass them on in these troubled times. 

On nights when the Shepherds and their train of soldiers were farther from villages and towns, Olivia still got to tell her stories. Even if Nowi wasn’t a child, she was always the first to find Olivia after the evening meal and demand story time. Sometimes Ricken or Robin or Sumia, Lissa and Panne would also join the storytelling, other evenings the moment was more intimate. The childish ritual started with the two of them in Olivia’s tent, Olivia whispering sweet romances into Nowi’s ear as the young manakete tried to hold on to wakefulness. Nowi never made it to the end of a story, a fact that became a matter of pride for Olivia and consternation for Nowi. Every night, Nowi would beg for more, knowing that there would always be something unknown that she could ask for the next day. 

The story times became earlier and earlier each day, until Olivia realized what the stories meant to Nowi. For all that she looked little more than a child, Nowi had already lived longer than any human could fathom, and most of the life had not been pleasant. Nowi needed to hear something good, not just because it was a snippet of happiness, but because those stories would fuel her and keep her strong when all her friends left her alone. So Olivia made an effort to not only recount every variation of a tale she knew, but slowly started making up her own. As time went on and war continued, Nowi finally managed to stay awake and hear the end of a tale. Once that became more frequent, Oliva knew that the story she made up for Nowi could never have an ending. 

Some nights Olivia told short stories, ones Nowi had heard hundreds of times, or new variations she’d heard about in the market. Some nights, when one story was done and Nowi was still too haunted to sleep, Olivia would tell her tale. There would always be something happening that would leave off the tale with questions, but days would go by before Olivia continued it. None of Nowi’s pleading would change Olivia’s mind, and only when she was good and ready did she tell the next part of her story. Olivia hoped against reason that this war wouldn’t claim either of them until the story would fill days of Nowi’s time. All lives were fleeting to the woman beside her, and if all Olivia could give her was her words, then that is what she would give the beautiful, broken creature she loved so much. Her words would last much longer than she ever could.

**Author's Note:**

> For the Fire Emblem Femslash Week 2016.


End file.
